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UNITED STATES OF i^ERICA. 



SCIENTIFIC MEDICINE 



IN ITS 



Relation to Homeopathy 



BY 

v 
PROFESSOR THEODOR BAKODY, M.D. 



BUDA-PESTH UNIVERSITY. 



TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN 

BY 

RUDOLPH F. BAUER, M.D. 



a 



3 0/) l o VV 



PHILADELPHIA : 

BOERICKE & TAFEL. vo 

1891. 






Copyright, 1801, 
By BOERICKE & TAFEL. 



This essay, written by Prof. Theodor Bakody, of Buda- 
Pesth, for the Pester Loyd, was originally intended for the 
laity. The interest awakened throughout the world by 
Koch's great discovery was experienced in a lively degree 
by all classes of men, and information concerning the new 
remedy was eagerly sought after by layman as ' well as 
physician. 

Prof. Bakody, designing to write for the former, uncon- 
sciously wrote for the latter, and in answering the questions 
put to him concerning Koch's remedy touched upon such 
important points in therapeutics that every physician, even 
if not sympathizing with his views, will still give them seri- 
ous consideration. 

Rudolph F. Bauer, M.D. 



SCIENTIFIC MEDICINE 



RELATION TO HOMEOPATHY. 



I kespoxd with pleasure to your invitation, asking 
me to express from my especial standpoint, my opin- 
ions concerning the widely differing'- views entertained 
regarding the value of Koch's method of treatment, 
and also the assertions frequently made concerning 
the similarity of the same to the Hahneniannian 
methods. You must, however, allow me to discuss 
the subject thoroughly ; otherwise your object of ex- 
plaining to the educated laity a serious scientific ques- 
tion will be futile. A certain preliminary knowledge, 
generally wanting even in the best educated of the 
laity, is necessary to properly understand medical 
and scientific questions. I must, therefore, endeavor 
to overcome this lack of knowledge by putting my 
explanations into a form which will be familiar and 
easily understood. 

Before Kokitansky's time, the school of medicine 
busied itself almost exclusively with problematic hy- 



6 SCIENTIFIC MEDICINE IN IT3 

potheses and theoretical pathological speculations, 
particularly in the branches of pathology and diag- 
nosis. In the eighth lustrum of the present century, 
Rokitansky surprised the medical world with a work 
which attracted universal attention, entitled, Manual 
of Pathological Anatomy. I quote from this work 
the following remarkable passage, so that it will be- 
come clear to you what this great thinker strove to 
do, and what new paths his pathological school 
opened : 

" Pathological anatomy has for its subject the devi- 
ations of the organism and the disturbances of the 
organs and tissues, as demonstrated by anatomical 
research. Its importance becomes clear to us when 
we place it in that relation to pathology which anat- 
omy holds to physiology ; it becomes the principal 
basis for a physiology of disease. Anatomy is the 
basis of pathology, because the manifestations of dis- 
ease are subject to the same laws, and because the 
disease remains still a physiological condition, al- 
though a morbid one." 

In the first edition of his work, Rokitansky not 
only declared his systematically ordered doctrine the 
very foundation of medical knowledge, but also pro- 
mulgated therein and established for all time the 
thesis that a knowledge of the morbid disturbances 
and changes in the organs and tissues must become 
the basis of medicinal treatment ; also that patho- 
logical anatomy was undoubtedly to be regarded as 
the foundation upon which a physiological pathology 



RELATION TO HOMOEOPATHY. 7 

rested, and was the elementary principle in natural 
researches pertaining to medicine. " It offers," the 
text continues, "a reliahle, solid basis to semiology 
and diagnosis, and establishes a rational therapeutics 
based upon a thorough knowledge of morbid and cur- 
ative processes." The learning and justice of this 
eminent scholar induced him to add, with a modesty 
worthy of imitation, the conditional observation, 
" that what he himself designated as fundamental, 
only pointed out for the present the possible tendency 
and extension of future development." 

His prognostication proved true. From the ma- 
croscopic pathological anatomy developed the micro- 
scopic pathological anatomy of Virchow. The or- 
ganic tissue-changes, demonstrated mainly by the 
naked eye by Rokitansky and his followers, w T ere 
investigated still more closely by the microscopic 
work of Virchow and his school ; the improvement 
in optical instruments aided these efforts. The 
knowledge gained by Virchow in his researches of 
cell-life revealed the finer elementary changes and 
the morbid processes going on in diseased cells, ap- 
proached 600 times nearer the human eye. 

Thereafter, investigators, with one accord, directed 
their labors to the attainment of a thorough knowl- 
edge of the cellular nature of the functions of life ; 
and the results, collected with ant-like industry in 
the archives of Virchow, revealed the fact, more and 
more, that the delicate, jelly-like, microscopic struc- 
ture, provided with a nucleus and nucleolus — the or- 



8 SCIENTIFIC MEDICINE IN ITS 

gaiiic cell — represented an independent, anatomical 
physiological entity, and was the lowest form in which 
there was active manifestation of life. Thereby was 
the cell-doctrine founded, and pathological anatomy 
was now designated pathological histology. This cell- 
doctrine in its consequent application to the living 
organism, the organs and tissues of which simply rep- 
resent a complexity of cells and their derivatives, led 
to the establishment of a cellular pathology and a 
cellular physiology. 

The inductive matter obtained in this department 
accumulated to such an extent within the last forty 
years that it was hardly possible for any hypothetical 
pathological system to take deeper root. Medicine, 
as a whole, however, derived but little practical use 
therefrom. This, about eight years ago, induced 
Professor Klebs, a pupil of Virchow (and who is to 
be considered as the first of any importance advocat- 
ing the microbe theory of disease, but who subse- 
quently accomplished nothing of importance) to op- 
pose his master, in one of his lectures entitled " The 
Changes in Medical Views Within the Last Thirty 
Years." With the injustice of a prejudiced thinker, 
he wrote, in 1878, the following : " When we consider 
that the old doctrine (that of cellular pathology) failed 
in accomplishing what was expected of it, namely, the 
healing of disease, it becomes my duty (the duty of a 
theorist) to collect all facts which may be operative 
in establishing a reformation in therapeutics, and give 
to that which has already been done in this direction 



RELATION TO HOMOEOPATHY. 9 

a solid foundation ; for this we have labored, micro- 
scopists and experimenters, for over ten years ; it 
shall be our duty to show that the results thus far 
obtained necessitate us to seek the cause of many grave 
diseases outside of the body, and demonstrate that the 
causes of disease are due to micro-organisms. 

In an article entitled " The Nature and Cause of 
Disease," which appeared in 1880, in the 79th vol. of 
the Archives, and was devoted to the correction of Prof. 
Klebs, Virchow writes : " All our experience teaches 
us that life can only be manifested in concrete form, 
and is associated with certain foci of matter, these foci 
being the cells and cellular tissues. What is true of 
the individual as a whole, that, and even more so, is 
true of the cell. It is the central point of action of 
mechanical substance, and is alone capable of pre- 
serving within itself that activity which justifies the 
name of life. . . . . When, however, we en- 
deavor to understand and grasp the matter there re- 
mains nothing for us but to return to the elementary 
constituents, and these are for the biologist the cells. 
. Should there be diseases dependent 
upon changes in a single cell the treatment would 
have to be directed to this single cell. At present, 
however, in practice we have to deal, not with single 
cells, but with groups of cells. Each group, or in 
other words, each focus of disease, consists of a larger 
or smaller, but always of a positive mass of living 
cells. With this mass of elementary substance prac- 
tice has to deal, and these foci are the objective points 



10 SCIENTIFIC MEDICINE IN ITS 

of diagnosis as well as therapeutics. This is the true 
meaning of the ' localization-thought.' It would be 
truly foolish to expect such a local action if we did not 
know of the existence of special relations between 
certain drugs and certain portions of the body. At 
present it requires only an experienced hand to for- 
mulate precisely a capable work on cellular thera- 
peutics." 

This declaration of Virchow led to the belief that 
a cellular therapeutics based upon the cell-doctrine 
was to be expected, but that the author spoken of was 
first to be found. 

As you see, here we arrive at the boundary separ- 
ating two essentially different lines of thought in the 
practical domain of medicine. 

In the foregoing explanation of Virchow, we meet 
the word " localization." In considering this, I must 
point out to you the many ways in which the word 
" specific " is understood, and, as we progress, you 
will find that the conception of this is as important 
to my line of reasoning as the keystone is to an arch. 

You will scarcely believe that this frequently-used 
word, " specific," not only formerly gave rise to mis- 
conceptions, but even to-day leads to misunderstand- 
ings, in accordance with the individual interpreta- 
tion of its meaning. 

The understanding of " specific," has to some ex- 
tent a history of development, closely allied to the 
development of medical science. The main principle 
involved is that of " individuality." Accepted in 



RELATION TO HOMOEOPATHY. 11 

medicine and applied to the action of drugs, those 
substances which were proven positively curative be- 
cause qf their individuality of action in certain dis- 
eases — as, for instance, china in intermittent fever — 
were called specifics. With the advancement of med- 
ical knowledge, and particularly through the methods 
of Hahnemann, it became certain that many sub- 
stances acted markedly upon particular organs in 
preference to others, as, for instance, digitalis upon 
the heart, and those substances, because of their pe- 
culiar local action, were termed local-specific reme- 
dies. As a result of the experiments of the Hahne- 
mannian school and the provings of many substances 
upon the healthy, the knowledge of local-specific 
acting remedies became greatly extended, and so was 
forced upon the medical mind that line of thought 
which Virchow expressed as the " localization-idea," 
and which, properly speaking, represented for med- 
icine that which Hahnemann postulated as the spe- 
cific principle. That the doctrine of specific action 
was cultivated solely by the method of Hahnemann 
is even acknowledged by Virchow. It was Hahne- 
mann's object to discover remedies which would act 
upon the cause of disease ; these he termed causal- 
sj^ecific, in contradistinction to those drugs which 
were given, not to remove the cause of disease, but to 
ameliorate painful, tormenting symptoms, and which 
he designated symptomatic-specific or, better still, 
palliative-specific remedies. If the action of a causal- 
specific remedy cannot be explained, then its use is 



12 SCIENTIFIC MEDICINE IN ITS 

purely empyric : if, however, the action is approx- 
imately clear, then it becomes a scientific causal- 
specific remedy, and one which stands in peculiar in- 
timate relation with the vital activity of the cells. 
The symptomatic remedies, as regards their action, 
can be divided into the direct and indirect, while the 
action of causal-specific remedies is always direct. 
The action of the specifics is naturally a local one, 
and limited to certain tissues, and thus is the desig- 
nation " local action " only to be regarded as one in 
contradistinction to that action which influences the 
organism as a whole. 

In vol. vi. of Virchow's Archives we read in an 
article entitled " Specifics and Their Advocates," the 
following : " The attention of specific homoeopaths 
has been constantly directed to organic healing rem- 
edies, that is, those acting on certain localities. . . 
But one is unable to do more, in the artificial 
cure of disease, than to make such use of the 
mechanism of the organism as to assist the equi- 
librium maintained by the regulatory arrangements 
of the body. Internal medication aims to set into 
action the organs of the body for the accomplishment 
of its purpose. To effect this, specific remedies are 
employed to operate upon certain regulatory organs, 
not always, however, to influence the diseased organ 
in a gentle way, but frequently enough in an inim- 
ical, antagonistic (contraria) manner. Everywhere 
are we compelled to attack the exponent of specifics, 
and yet, nevertheless, hope for the specific. 



RELATION TO HOMOEOPATHY. 13 

Does this not seem questionable? These express- 
ions, however, belong to the first period of Virchow's 
labors. We will see how, in the course of time, his 
therapeutic-medical convictions in this direction were 
altered. In the 79th vol. of the Archives, in the pre- 
viously-mentioned article, which was mainly directed 
against Klebs, he writes, under the heading of 
" Cause and Nature of Disease," the following : " The 
treatment of pneumonia is decided primarily by the 
fever. The clinician separates the two most important 
factors, the fever, and the local inflammatory pro- 
cess. The first brings the greater danger, the latter 
the least. Attention is directed to the fever, or, in 
other words, to a sum of disturbances which have 
their real seat in a certain portion of the nervous 
system. What we do in this direction may hardly 
appear cellular-therapeutic, and yet it is eminently 
so, for there is always behind such a disturbance a 
certain number of altered ganglia-cells." 

In my explanation I have several times mentioned 
" Spontaneous Cure." Rokitansky as well as Virchow 
recognized as something positive the Nature cure. 

This spontaneous cure (which, naturally, cannot be 
expected in all diseases) we will divide for present 
pui^poses simply into three classes : 

I. Spontaneous cure without remedies. 
II. Spontaneous cure by means of remedies. 

III. Spontaneous cure despite (suj)posed) remedies. 

The first variety runs its course (if at all possible) 
without any medication, and is influenced only by 



14 SCIENTIFIC MEDICINE IN ITS 

dietetics and other measures calculated to bring about 
a spontaneous cure. This form of treatment is desig- 
nated the " expectative method," a term which bears 
anything but that of a biological stamp. 

The second variety is accomplished only then, 
when an operative remedy, given for the purpose, re- 
moves the cause of the disease — the action being in a 
line with the vital regulatory factors of the organism, 
and assisting the natural curative process. In this 
instance the natural cure is elevated, and becomes a 
scientific one. The third variety conforms to those 
cases where the cause of the disease is ignored and 
remedies administered, the action of which is directed 
to symptoms which are tormenting, or by faulty rea- 
soning are considered dangerous. Through these 
remedies the organic regulatory arrangements are 
disturbed in their curative functions, and the true 
curative process — in the most favorable case — re- 
tarded, or, in a pathological-anatomical sense, com- 
pletely arrested ; for the biological forces, hampered 
as they are by the action of these palliative agents, 
do not always possess sufficient vital energy to over- 
come the cause of disease. 

In this third classification belongs the treatment of 
pneumonia spoken of by Virchow, where not the 
local process but the fever, which is a natural accom- 
paniment of the inflammation, becomes the object of 
medicinal treatment. 

I have disputed this opinion since 1873, and in a 
work of mine in reference to this can be found the 



RELATION TO HOMOEOPATHY. 15 

following passage : " Doctor Kocher has the art of 
saying so much that is enticing regarding the treat- 
ment of pneumonia by antipyretics, as practiced by 
Prof. Biermer, of Zurich, that one finds it natural 
when viewed from a symptomatic-therapeutic stand- 
point, that it should be deemed worthy of therapeutic 
application in wider circles/' In fact, the pulse and 
temperature become so greatly altered that both may 
sink below normal. Dyspnoea, expectoration, pain, 
and restlessness are diminished, but the mass of pro- 
liferated cells which fill the lungs as a result of the 
inflammatory process are scarcely or not at all re- 
moved. 

In the Pester Medicinisch- Chirurgical Presse, in 
1885, appeared an article entitled " A Criticism of 
Medical-Symptomatic Antipyresis," which I read in 
1884, during the December convention of the Hun- 
garian Biological Society, and which was accompanied 
by microscopic demonstration. From this I must 
also quote you some passages relative to that which we 
have in hand : " The practical i^hysician needs a 
definite guiding principle for his actions, and by the 
selection made is distinguished even to this day the 
followers of Galen and those representing the tenden- 
cies of the Hippocratic school. In the course of the 
development of medicine we constantly meet these op- 
posing factors, even though they be in different guise, 
and the ceaseless contention existing between them 
effects a greater perfection of therapeutics. To-day, 
also, we see therapeutics conducted on one hand by a 



16 SCIENTIFIC MEDICINE IN ITS 

peculiar method which bases its procedures on pure ob- 
servation of Nature, subordinates the laws of organic 
life, and keeps in view the correct mutual relationship 
existing between therapeutics and life. On the other 
hand, however, it is practiced as a curative science 
more after a form than after Nature, and frequently 
enough ignores the always just biological postulates, 
and strives with hair-splitting reasonings to conquer 
the regulatory laws of organic life." 

" To prove the justice of my assertion, I will describe 
the course of treatment of an acute febrile diseased 
process, the clinical course of which is well known, 
and sketch more closely its rapidly changing phases. 
After a restraint had been placed upon bleeding in 
the treatment of pneumonia by the favorable results 
obtained by the homoeopaths who were opposed to 
vampirism, the use of tartar emetic was introduced by 
the Vienna school, and was considered with great 
favor ; the results, however, when compared with 
those obtained by the homoeopaths, left much to be 
desired ; so that those of a skeptical turn of mind 
were induced to treat the named disease on purely 
dietetic principles. The result obtained in regard to 
recovery was very favorable, inasmuch as the death- 
rate, which was 20.4 after bleeding, and 20.7 after 
the treatment by tartar emetic, fell to 7.4 by the diet- 
etic treatment ; this, however, was offset by a death- 
rate of 3 to 4 per cent, shown by the homoeopaths. 
The latter employed, then as now, in the first stage 
of the disease, their remedies influencing the vaso- 



RELATION TO HOMOEOPATHY. 17 

motor nerves and vascular system, and in the stage 
of completed exudation, medicinal substances which 
favored resolution, and finally drugs which aided the 
energies of absorption, a method of treatment which, 
by its excellent results, has given them no cause to 
change for any other form of treatment for nearly 
forty years, inasmuch as nothing more was to be de- 
sired regarding the course of convalescence and com- 
plete restoration of the diseased organ." 

In consequence of the satisfactory results obtained 
by the biological-medical therapeutics, one could have 
expected with justice that this method of treatment 
was worthy of general trial. But medical thera- 
peutics, in consequence of the accepted antipyretic 
treatment, from a rationalistic standpoint, took a 
course diametrically opposed to the Hahnemannian. 
Through the accepted views regarding the nature and 
danger of fever, a new Galenic method arose, which, 
in a consequential way, looked proudly down upon 
the others. The results obtained by experiment and 
research gave to it those so-called exact scientific 
principles for its seemingly wise procedures, and 
gradually, as the theoretical views regarding febrile 
consumption received greater scientific recognition, 
the antipyretic method of treatment proportionately 
developed to a higher degree. 

At length the bacillus theory sprang into existence, 
and therapeutics had to be adapted to these new 
pathological views. In pursuit of this new fact, the 
question necessarily arose, whether these low organ - 

2 



18 SCIENTIFIC MEDICINE IN ITS 

isms were the direct cause of fever, or whether they 
developed pyrogenic matter by their tissue changes, 
or by their action upon surrounding tissues ; and it 
was concluded that even if the action of these micro- 
organisms, which were always present, be productive 
of disease, the fever still remained the most important 
factor for the consideration of therapeutics ; this, in 
consequence of the newly accepted theory, led to the 
introduction of an antipyretic method of treatment 
which should at the same time be antizymotic. 

Now follows the proof established by myself on 
pathological-physiological and pathological-chemical 
grounds, that the effect obtained by the antipyretic 
symptomatic remedies, of checking the oxidation pro- 
cess going on in the tissues, is injurious to the cura- 
tive process. I will omit discussing this further, as 
it would be unintelligible to the laity, but will ac- 
quaint you with that portion of my work, in which it 
is proven that the harmfulness of antipyretic treat- 
ment, when regarded from the standpoint of the 
modern bacillus-theory, contains matter of still more 
serious import. As this is of interest to every edu- 
cated layman, and is easily understood, and moreover 
deals with a fact which can be demonstrated beyond 
all doubt by the aid of optical instruments, I will con- 
tinue by quoting the following : By the name amoeba 
we designate microscopic protozoa, living in water, and 
consisting of a mass of nucleated j^rotoplasm without 
a membrane, and constantly showing a change of 
form. The white blood-corrjuscles and the cells of 



RELATION TO HOMOEOPATHY. 19 

the cellular tissue of the animal organism resemble 
these amoeba, and like them are distinguished from 
other cells of the body by their capability of locomo- 
tion. Inasmuch as they are able during life to change 
their form, and are capable of motion, whereby they 
can permeate the tissues, they are also termed mi- 
gratory cells. Locomotion is accomplished by send- 
ing out broad sprout-like projections, while others are 
drawn in, contract, and become shortened, so that the 
body of the cell crawls forward to a certain extent. 
Those containing large granules display much greater 
activity than those containing small ones ; according 
to Lanclowsky's observations, 80 out of 100 of the 
former require but II to 2 hours to travel 1 mm. 
over the surface of a perfectly smooth glass, while 72 
out of 100 of the latter require from 3 to 6 hours to 
accomplish the same distance. During locomotion it 
frequently can be seen how the cell, before going on, 
accommodates itself to obstacles in its way and to a 
certain extent seems to feel them by means of its pro- 
jections, and, Avhile continuing on its way, an empty 
projection gradually forms, which, by-and-by, takes 
up into itself the foreign particles. That the cell de- 
velops considerable force in its progression can be 
determined by the fact that they are able to force 
their way through fibrillar, lamellae, and even ejn- 
thelial cells. 

The power of these cells to take up into themselves 
various bodies and digest them is termed intra- 
cellular digestion. The experiments of Metschnikoff, 



20 SCIENTIFIC MEDICINE IN ITS 

conducted especially for the purpose of answering 
this question, showed that the amoebse actually di- 
gested those substances which they took up into them- 
selves which were capable of being digested ; also, 
that the bacteria, bacilli, and fungi, which are eaten 
are killed and undergo more or less change. Metsch- 
nikoff therefore called these cells phagocytes. 

I clearly demonstrated the principal phases of this 
phagocyte irritation with freshly-prepared micro- 
scopic slides during the course of the lecture. 

It follows, therefore, positively, that what we term 
inflammation is not a passive process but is the re- 
sult of the activity of living cells, when viewed from 
a cellular-pathological standpoint. The greater the 
irritation occasioned by the cause of the disease, the 
more intense are the reactionary manifestations — in 
other words, the greater is the accumulation of migra- 
tory leucocytes. The inflammatory process is there- 
fore a struggle between the phagocytes and the local 
accumulation of the products of disease. Many of 
the bacteria are pursued by the leucocytes, and where 
the strength of one of the latter is insufficient to over- 
power the former, they frequently coalesce and form 
plasmodia, in order to accomplish their work. From 
the results obtained by the comparison of many par- 
allel ex]:>eriments, we can conclude that the original 
impetus of reaction against a given irritation consists 
in an accumulation of phagocytes around the foreign 
body, or around the displaced cell. 

The many opinions expressed in medical literature 



RELATION TO HOMCEOPATHY. 21 

regarding the relation of tubercle bacilli to giant 

© • © © 

cells agree that here also the question is one of a 
struggle between bacilli and phagocytes. 

Inasmuch as the phagocytes seem to play the most 
important part in inflammatory conditions, and, as 
we also know that the amoebae are extremely sensi- 
tive to changes of temperature, we must pay especial 
attention to the biological reaction existing between 
the activity of phagocytes and certain degrees of tem- 
perature. As the investigations of Max Schulze 
teach us that the motions of leucocytes are quickened 
by raising the temperature 45° C, we may conclude 
that a febrile temperature must result in an increased 
activity of the phagocytes. All this tends to lead us 
to the conclusion that the elevated temperatures of 
infectious diseases assist the phagocytes in their 
struggle against the disease-producing microbes. The 
theory teaching the utility of fever is based upon the 
fact that the elevation of temperature exerts a bene- 
ficial effect by causing an increased activity of the 
phagocytes, and that these can accomplish their task 
more easily in a higher temperature than when their 
functional activity becomes weakened by an artificial 
lowering of the temperature. 

We must therefore regard the phagocytes as the 
carriers of the curative forces of Nature. Koch, the 
master of bacteriology, admits that the bacilli are still 
alive in the younger giant-cells, while in the older 
ones they are already dead, and that the giant-cells 
eat and then kill the bacilli. When we regard this 



22 SCIENTIFIC MEDICINE IN ITS 

matter from this standpoint it follows that in infec- 
tious diseases the disease on the whole represents a 
battle between two living organisms, a battle between 
bacteria and phagocytes. 

It is understood, of course, that what I have said 
is applicable only to medical-symptomatic antipyresis, 
for the hydrotherapeutic method when rightly ap- 
plied, must be considered a causal antipyretic in ac- 
cordance with biological laws, inasmuch as the oxi- 
dation process going on in the tissues is increased, 
and not lowered by this method. The process, how- 
ever, which we term inflammation in reality repre- 
sents a useful agent, the action of which has a 
tendency to establish a healthy reaction in the animal 
organization, and is to be regarded, with its accom- 
panying elevation of temperature, as a process favor- 
able to the diseased organism and one tending to 
restoration of health. 

What relationship, do you suppose, exists between 
this therapeutic view and the one assumed by Vir- 
chow ? Here we plainly see how different is patho- 
logical reasoning and therapeutic reasoning. 

Virchow says, as you will remember, in regard to 
the treatment of pneumonia, that the danger of the 
disease lies in the fever, and that this, above all, 
must be controlled. This is the conviction of the 
master — why, then, should we be surprised if the 
great mass of practicing physicians follow his foot- 
steps ? He himself says that these procedures do not 
appear to be cellular-therapeutic in nature, but are 



RELATION TO HOMOEOPATHY. 23 

nevertheless eminently so. Heavens ! In accordance 
with this acceptation every invasion of the organism, 
even when clue to the effects of a fatal bullet, is to be 
considered "cellular." To apply the cell-doctrine in 
such a way to therapeutics and explain cellular thera- 
peutic action in such a manner, is a most convenient 
method of solving the problem of " localization." 
Beyond all doubt, Virchow's therapeutic views must 
be changed and adapted to these indisputable facts as 
now revealed by such microscopic organisms as the 
bacilli and phagocytes. A complete transformation 
of therapeutic opinions will, however, only occur 
when such men as Prof. Strassburger, Flemming, 
Pfitzner, Jurany, myself, and a few other new men, 
succeed in demonstrating to the medical world gen- 
erally the natural configurations of finer morpholog- 
ical changes of living cells, and thereby show the 
wonderful vital activity of cell life. . . . 

Virchow's frequently incorrect therapeutic propo- 
sitions induced me to say the following in a work es- 
pecially directed to him : "Despite the acknowl- 
edged value of the principles of localization by 
therapeutics, despite the prominence and recognizance 
given to the value of the facts discovered and the ad- 
vantages to be derived therefrom by medicine, I 
cannot refrain from saying that when medicine has 
reached a higher stage of development by means of 
the paths opened by toxicology, therapeutics also, 
influenced to a certain extent by a mode of inter- 
preting symptoms, and by misunderstanding the true 



24 SCIENTIFIC MEDICINE IN ITS 

object of our school, may become blemished in the 
purity of its operations." 

As a scientific follower of the doctrines of Hahne- 
mann, I have always endeavored, in keeping with the 
progressive spirit of the time, to give to the same a 
suitable, substantial basis, and one in accordance with 
the scientific knowledge of the day. With the ad- 
vance of science, homoeopathy has only gained in 
importance, for the onward strides of development 
reveal still higher degrees of vitality. The illumi- 
nating torch of the doctrine of specifics has passed 
from hand to hand for nearly a century, and the 
"symptomatic" spirit will finally be put to flight 
entirely thereby. I must confess that I cannot des- 
ignate Hahnemann's method the only starting-point 
for investigations and experiments in medicine ; I 
therefore make the following distinctions (excluding 
operative work and specialties) : 

I. Symptomatic specific medicine, or the application 
of drugs on palliative principles, and not based upon 
the cause of disease. 

II. Causal-specific medical therapeutics : 

a. Homoeo-therapeutics. 

b. The doctrine of chemical antidotes. 

c. Me tallo- therapeutics. 

III. The biological, not medicinal (i.e., using no 
drugs) method : 

a. Hydro-therapeutics, balneology, climatology ; 

b. Electro-therapeutics ; 

c. Massage and gymnastics. 



RELATION TO HOMOEOPATHY. 25 

d. Dietetic method of cure and ^etiological prophy- 
laxis. 

The scientific, educated physician must clearly de- 
fine these various methods of treatment, and be well 
versed in the proper application of each, in order to 
do justice to his calling; the knowledge thereof 
should, however, be made certain by an obligatory 
course established by a faculty. 

All this preceding matter was necessary, in order 
to do justice to your questions. 

Your first question, then, into which class of cura- 
tive methods is Koch's system to be placed, can be 
answered with precision. 

Koch terms his remedy a specific, and says it is 
specific against the tubercular processes. As you are 
already acquainted with my classification, it will ap- 
pear correct to you, in consideration of what he him- 
self says regarding the action of his remedy, if I add 
to this attribute " specific," the epithet " causal." 
Therefore, it is to be placed in the second class of 
curative methods. As we moreover know that Koch 
is master in his own field of investigation, that of the 
bacilli, and as his remedy is to be regarded as the re- 
sult of combined inductive experimental methods, so 
far known to Koch alone, and as these are also of a 
biological nature, the term " scientific causal specific " 
cannot be denied his remedy. 

Your second question is as follows : " What is my 
opinion of the value of Koch's remedy as a curative 
agent?" 



26 SCIENTIFIC MEDICINE IN ITS 

This question, regarded from my standpoint, is one 
not so easily answered. Koch says : " The most im- 
portant quality of this remedy is its specific action 
upon tubercular processes." In considering this 
question more closely, I shall keep in view only its 
action in tuberculosis of the lungs. 

The diagnosis of this disease in the present condi- 
tion of things seems greatly simplified by demon- 
strating the presence of the tubercle bacilli of Koch, 
and it is understood, of course, that the remedy is 
applicable only to those cases in which the sputa con- 
tain bacilli. Here, however, I must observe, that 
five years ago at my clinic, Dr. Baudis carefully ex- 
amined the sputa of those suffering from diseased 
lungs, and out of 100 chronic cases the sputa of only 
20.23 contained bacilli ; and moreover, it is to be re- 
marked, that in the sputa of many of those discharged 
as cured at the time, Dr. Baudis found bacilli, while 
on the other hand very many cases terminated fatally 
in which the sputa were proven to be free of bacilli. 
After many experiences of this sort, clinicians con- 
sidered the statement of Koch, that his new remedy 
was an aid to diagnosis of the greatest importance. 
According to Koch, his fluid is to be used for diag- 
nostic purposes in such cases where negative results 
are obtained by examination of the sputum; as it is 
capable of producing such a characteristic reaction, 
even in a dose of 0.01 when there is present any latent 
tubercular process, it will in doubtful cases, and in 
such where physical examination gives no clue to the 



RELATION TO HOMCEOPATHV. 27 

nature of the disorder, reveal the hidden presence of 
this disease. Here we are met by the question, will 
Koch's remedy prove itself worthy of so much im- 
portance as a criterion of disease in all cases ; will 
there not be some intercurring cases which may mis- 
lead clinicians? This is a question of the future. 
On the whole, you may see that the case is not as 
simple as it appears. At least one thing is certain, 
that the clinician must absolutely keep in view all 
other diagnostic points in order to keep from going 
astray in such cases where the diagnostic aid spoken 
of leaves him in the lurch. Therefore we must re- 
store to its proper place the pathological histology of 
tuberculosis which has been so greatly neglected in 
consequence of the bacillus theory, for by its assistance 
we are better enabled to diagnose and understand the 
special as well as general relations, conditions and 
circumstances of this disease. 

In regard to this, however, we meet with consider- 
able difficulty, as the opinions of able specialists of 
pathological anatomy greatly differ concerning the 
various morbid conditions which come under the 
heading of " pulmonary tuberculosis." Yirchow 
(who, in company with his deceased friend Bern- 
hardt, may be regarded as the originator of correct 
views on this subject), discovered this to his sorrow, 
and at the last convention of scientists at Weisbaden 
was so disconcerted by the confused discussion on 
this subject, that he left the room. Under these cir- 
cumstances, we need not be surprised that the views 



28 SCIENTIFIC MEDICINE IN ITS 

of practicing physicians greatly differ upon this sub- 
ject. Of course, I do not here speak of the pronounced 
cases of phthisis met in practice. It is a very differ- 
ent matter to diagnosticate a cavern, and the insidious 
beginning of a dangerous lung affection, especially in 
individuals who have not the physical traits of phthis- 
ical subjects. It would be a great acquisition if 
Koch's remedy proved itself a reliable diagnostic 
guide. 

Concerning the curative power of the remedy, 
Koch says : " Those treated in the initial stage of 
phthisis were all, in the course of four to six weeks, 
entirely free from all symptoms of the disease, so that 
they may be regarded as cured. Also those patients 
having cavities of moderate size in the lungs were 
greatly improved and nearly cured In conse- 
quence of these experiences, I would like to assume," 
continues Koch, "that phthisis can be cured with 
certainty in the first stage." Koch says, "only then 
will this new remedy become a blessing to suffering 
humanity when it becomes possible to treat all cases 
of tuberculosis (as exactly defined by the bacillus 
theory) in the early stages, and when the development 
of the neglected serious forms of the disease is no longer 
possible." Would Koch write all this if he did not 
think so? — this industrious, secluded pioneer of sci- 
ence, this honest investigator cannot be treated with 
superficial doubt. The experimental results with 
which he astonished the world, and which so suddenly 



RELATION TO HOMOEOPATHY. 29 

produced a complete transformation of medical views, 
must be regarded with deserving seriousness. 

This obliges us to consider carefully what he says 
regarding the action of his remedy. Koch asserts 
that his remedy does not destroy the bacilli, but that 
the tissues enclosing the tubercle bacilli are influ- 
enced by the action of the fluid. It is capable of act- 
ing only on living tubercular tissue and has no 
action on dead masses, as, for instance, those which 
have undergone caseous degeneration. Marked dis- 
turbances of circulation occur in the tissues which 
enclose the tubercles, as indicated by the visible red- 
ness and swelling, and necrotic changes occur to a 
greater or less degree in accordance with the manner 
in which the drug is allowed to act. This very pe- 
culiarity of the remedy must be carefully watched in 
order to take advantage of its curative action. 

We here meet with a remarkable phenomenon. A 
remedy, praised as reliable by its discoverer, a man 
of truth, and accepted by the jubilant medical men 
with the greatest confidence as a panacea for tuber- 
culosis, becomes an object of hostile attack on account 
of the many imitative curative experiments of others, 
and is declared by some to be a disappointment, and 
by others even dangerous. The intense expectation 
regarding the absolute positive therapeutic value of 
Koch's remedy was transmitted from the so-called 
medical world to the laity, where, in mathematical 
progression, it assumed such a degree of exaltation 
that tranquil medication became impossible. It is 



30 SCIENTIFIC MEDICINE IN ITS 

not likely that a remedy will ever be found which 
will render us immortal, and yet, in the beginning, 
the strings of hope were tuned to such a pitch. 
Carelessness in the selection of cases, perhaps too 
bold procedures of some experimenters, may be the 
cause of the antagonistic views appearing here and 
there of late concerning the therapeutic value of the 
remedy. Does not the discoverer himself speak of 
the necessity of caution? The words of Michael 
Angelo here come to mind : " There is a statue in 
every block of marble, but we must hew away the 
superfluous." This is the task of art — even in the 
domain of therapeutics. For this reason I follow 
with the greatest interest the results of the curative 
experiments of Prof. Koloman M tiller and Dr. Hoeh- 
holt, inasmuch as they strictly individualize in the 
selection of their subjects for the treatment by " Tu- 
berculin " (propose this in place vf Kochine), and 
are very correct in their treatment of the patients. 
I am convinced that Koch's remedy undoubtedly de- 
serves the highest regard, only the methodical pro- 
cedures of its application must first be learned of the 
master. The therapeutic value of this remedy would 
not depreciate if we regarded the possibility that a 
certain fractional part of the favorable results was 
due to the palliative means formerly employed to as- 
sist the action of the lungs and heart (as digitalis, 
morphia, and the antipyretics), for in judging the 
action of Koch's remedy we must not forget that the 
biological regulatory arrangements of life do not stand 



RELATION TO HOMOEOPATHY. 31 

still. Statistics will clear up this matter for us later 

Oil. 

In speaking of reprovings in one of my works, en- 
titled " Karyomitosis," I said : That if we, in full 
accordance with biological-medical principles, expect 
nothing wonderful while determining the therapeutic 
value of a remedy, but are satisfied by sensible de- 
mands which harmonize with physiological possibil- 
ities and laws of life, we will not be disappointed in 
our expectations. We must never lose sight of the 
guiding principle of biological thought." This guid- 
ing principle I find entirely wanting in the recent 
pathological-anatomical autopsies of Virchow, which 
were made upon subjects who died after being treated 
by Koch's injections ; for overlooking the fact that 
several of the cases described by Virchow must be re- 
garded by every thinking physician as cases in which 
a fatal termination was inevitable, the intense local- 
specific action of the remedy may have hastened the 
end. Prof. Virchow's precise and strictly scientific 
demonstrations proved this an indubitable fact. Per- 
sonally, I was only the more convinced by the facts 
laid bare by Virchow that Koch's remedy must con- 
tain a heroic specific local-acting substance. Physi- 
cians, therefore, instead of falling from their happy 
state of mind into one of the greatest depression in 
consequence of Virchow's enunciations, should give to 
Koch's remedy the regard it so highly deserves. 

If Virchow, who to-day is but a lukewarm friend 
of specifics, and who, moreover, is neither a clinician 



32 SCIENTIFIC MEDICINE IN ITS 

nor therapeutist, if he, as the first man making an 
autopsy, had viewed with a friendly eye the results 
of his investigations, then would medical thought 
have made a marked onward stride and have ob- 
tained clearer views. 

The cases, however, in which experiments with 
the new remedy are harmless and beneficial are to be 
selected with the greatest care. This is only possible 
when the prover is skilled in diagnosis and prognosis, 
and is moreover a thoughtful clinician and thera- 
peutist. Therefore, should Koch call to his followers 
the words of Hahnemann : " Copy after, but copy 
faithfully/' 

After Koch's remedy has been thoroughly estab- 
lished and recognized as one having a local-direct- 
causal-specific action (its action at present forming an 
absolute material basis for it to rest upon), and only 
the relations and counter-relations of the remedy are 
to be made evident, it is to be hoped that exact 
experimental researches into the finer details of the 
remedy will record undoubted favorable effects within 
the bounds of reason, and so lead to the formation of 
a clearer judgment. The clearness of the decision of 
the experimenter is proportioned to the amount of 
detail knowledge at his command. Competency of 
judgment, however, has many gradations, and only 
the decisions of a few may be regarded as trustworthy. 

Your third question is as follows : " What rela- 
tionship exists between the experimental methods of 
Koch and the postulated reforms of Hahnemann ? " 



RELATION TO HOMOEOPATHY. 33 

I regret that it would lead me too far from my 
present purpose if I culled some thoughts from my 
" Hahnemann Redivivus " and interwove them with 
my subject. You would follow me with pleasure; there 
is so much contained therein which gives light to the 
educated layman ! For Hahnemann wrote for healthy, 
sound minds, and was an example of medical per- 
spicuity. His reforming principles, proclaimed a 
century ago, have constantly grown in importance 
since the time when he first appeared i n Huf eland' s 
Journal, in 1796. Their innate force, however, was 
only revealed in our time, within the last decennium. 
The fundamental principles of Hahnemann proved 
themselves to be the real forces which were urging 
forward the multiplication and perfection of methods. 
The attempt has often been made to ignore the prag- 
matic historical claims of right and priority to these 
principles, but this is no longer possible. Hahne- 
mann is and will remain a law-giving reformer ! For 
he who thoroughly rights the past and successfully 
combats the errors of his own time, and who, more- 
over, establishes principles for the gradual develop- 
ment of science, is a reformer, a prophet ! 

Now, to the answering of your question. 

The process of crystallization, even when mental, 
should not be disturbed by any commotion ; proba- 
bly, therefore, it was not a very cautious proceeding 
to compare Koch with Hahnemann, and strive to 
identify the methods of one with those of the other. 

The reformative doctrines of Hahnemann agree 



34 SCIENTIFIC MEDICINE IN ITS 

with the methods of Koch in general, but do not 
agree in an especial manner with the details of the 
methodical requirements ; there still remains, how- 
ever, the following important points of similarity : 
1. Koch, in investigating the action of his remedy, 
experimented with but a single substance upon the 
healthy organism. 2. After determining its action, 
he made experiments with the same substance upon 
the diseased organism. 3. He applied his remedy in 
a diluted form, as formulated by Hahnemann during 
his earlier labors, and as is still customary among 
scientific thinkers advocating his principles ; that is, 
a dilution of such strength was used as would influence 
the diseased tissue, but would have no harmful effect 
upon the healthy structures. 4. Koch's efforts were 
directed to the discovery of a causal specific-remedy 
through combined experiment. This is in accordance 
with the methods of Hahnemann, but the manner of 
applying the remedy (by injection) is not. 

It is an ominous trait of the present age to deny 
the justice due him, and this is the reason why pro- 
gress in medicine is so slow. Meanwhile, the spirit 
of the Hahnemannian doctrine bursts forth at oue 
time here, at another there ; every clear, thinking 
mind that can trace the threads of thought which 
connect the past with the present, and watch their 
further progression, will recognize that through the 
influence of this great thinker the problems will 
slowly but surely be solved. That which I have 
stated, to some extent already finds its affirmation in 



RELATION TO HOMOEOPATHY. 35 

the fact, that at the present day it is possible to ask 
such a question as I have answered you. But some- 
thing of still greater importance will follow in answer- 
ing your fourth query. 

You ask, " What is the relationship, in a more di- 
rect sense, existing between the homoeopathic curative 
principles and the curative experiments of Koch ?" 
To do full justice to this question, a digression is ne- 
cessary. 

In 1873, after being chosen professor of pathology 
and therapeutics, I saw that the orthodox physicians 
began to intrigue against me in consequence of the 
views which I promulgated. I attended, in company 
with my friend, Dr. Clotar Muller, now deceased, the 
44th general convention of the Homoeopathic Central 
Society of Germany at Buda-Pesth, at which assembly 
the foreign advocates of my theories were well repre- 
sented. As president of the assembly I announced 
openly and unreservedly, in the form of an opening 
speech, the position which I took as a member of the 
faculty, and what I deemed necessary of acceptance 
for the scientific development of my especial branch, 
and solemnly declared that I considered the doctrine 
of specifics in the Hahneinannian sense as the central 
point of my labors, and one which, on the whole, 
tended in our direction, but that I subordinated the 
specific law of similarity to the former, inasmuch as 
the law of similars is embraced as one of lesser exten- 
sion within the more universal law of specifics. That 
the law of specifics was no longer unknown to the 



36 SCIENTIFIC MEDICINE IN ITS 

medical world, inasmuch as every physician was ac- 
quainted with the existence of remedies which, when 
taken into the system, show a constant and peculiar 
affinity to certain tissues, and thereby cause a peculiar 
alteration in the anatomical structure and function of 
the part. But that the fact that these changes fre- 
quently occurred on the principle of the law of simi- 
lars, as yet awaited general recognition. In the 
second place, that I designate this law of similarity, 
as a strictly causal one, and no longer wished to see 
it dealt with in a superficial manner ; that in making- 
drug provings we should not be satisfied with the 
manifestation of mere subjective or general functional 
symptoms, but in accordance with the scientific 
knowledge of our day also include in the field of our 
observations the finer pathological-physiological, ana- 
tomical and chemical manifestations. The specific 
relations of single drugs to the various tissues must 
be closely studied, and their genetic changes noted, 
so that the nature of artificial drug diseases may be 
better and more clearly understood. In other words, 
drug provings should rest upon a cellular-pathologi- 
cal basis, and, supported by pathological physiology, 
develop into a cellular-therapeutics. In the third 
place, that it must be acknowledged that the funda- 
mental thought of Hahnemann's Organon clearly ex- 
presses, that not homoeopaths, in a restricted sense, 
are to be formed, but physicians, who know how to 
apply a proper remedy in a proper way. In the 
fourth place, that the dilution of medicine should not 



RELATION TO HOMOEOPATHY. 37 

be carried to a point beyond scientific recognition, 
and that the proper application of our direct causal 
acting remedies consists in using them in such 
strength and quantity that they will act only on the 
diseased tissues and leave the healthy ones intact. 
Finally, that I do not consider the biological-medical 
therapeutics of Hahnemann a universal one, inasmuch 
as it covers only that department of practical activity 
where medicinal therapeutic causal cures can be 
effected. 

This address, at the time, was considered as a 
doubtful achievement in the history of homoeopathy. 
In my reply to this attack, I expressed the opinion 
plainly, that my address might possibty also be re- 
garded as an achievement in the history of general 
medicine. 

Conformably with the views just expressed, I de- 
clared, as shown in my open letter to Virchow, en- 
titled "The Keform of Medical Therapeutics," that 
the idea from which the word homoeopathy sprang, is 
furthermore only applicable to our peculiar experi- 
mental pathology, the object of which is to compare 
genetically the artificial drug diseases with natural 
diseases, they having generated, according to a hy- 
pothesis, from causes which act in a similar manner ; 
and that to the therapeutics evolved from this pa- 
thology, another name than the one now in vogue 
should be given. 

As a transition to another name to be determined 
upon later on, it should be called homoeo-therapeutics. 



38 SCIENTIFIC MEDICINE IN ITS 

From all that has been said, it is evident that I 
regard only the fundamental principles of the great- 
reformer, aided by all the scientific knowledge of the 
day, as the true basis for the scientific development 
of homoeopathy ; I therefore considered it my duty to 
present to competent circles this method which T 
advocate and which is so misunderstood, freed from 
all impurities, and therefore have based the methods 
of Hahnemann upon the four following fundamental 
principles : 

I. Experimental provings with single remedies 
upon the healthy animal organism, and in continually 
increased doses ; with the recognition of all functional 
pathological-physiological, pathologieal-histological, 
chemical and toxical changes. 

II. A thorough genetic comparison of these changes 
with the corresponding changes occurring in natural 
disease, and hypothetically due to the same cause. 

III. The application of but a single remedy for 
therapeutic purposes, and one in accordance with the 
laws of similarity as taught by preceding experiments 
on the healthy organism, it being a causal specific 
action on the tissues resembling the various genetic 
phases of the corresponding diseases of the tissues. 

IV. The application of the causal-specific remedy 
in such a manner and dose as will answer the thera- 
peutic purposes without causing any accompanying 
pathogenic action upon the healthy tissues. 

For the purpose of obtaining these therapeutic re- 
sults, I established six degrees of attenuation accord- 



RELATION TO HOMOEOPATHY. 39 

ing to the decimal scale, the quantitative relations 
being as follows : 

I degree contains 0.1 gramme of the principle. 

II degree contains 0.01 

III " " 0.001 

IV " " 0.0001 
V " " 0.00001 

VI " " 0.000001 

The shibboleth, similia similibus, I formulate as 
follows : " After the combined inductive empyric 
method of Hahnemann, such drugs are used (in rela- 
tively small doses) as curative agents, in accordance 
with the genetic phases of the internal morbid pro- 
cesses, which will effect in a specific (direct, local) 
manner those tissues in the diseased organism, which 
are affected when the drug is introduced for experi- 
mental purposes (in relatively larger doses), and 
which is capable of producing pathological, physio- 
logical and histological changes similar to those occur- 
ring in the disease. 

These principles of reform have borne good fruit ; 
for instance, for the last fixe years, lectures have been 
given on the doctrines of Hahnemann at the Univer- 
sity of Greifswald. 

In order to be better enabled to answer your ques- 
tion, it is necessary for me to add the following in 
regard to the differentiations I have established in the 
theory of specific action. Hahnemann in his time 
made a distinction between remedies having a posi- 



40 SCIENTIFIC MEDICINE IN ITS 

tively curative action and those which were problem- 
atic. The first he termed specifics. In this class he 
placed china. In order to better understand the 
action of these specifics, and in order to discover new 
ones, he established the principle that they, as far as 
their former action was concerned, should be proven 
on the healthy organism. The provings which he 
made with china upon himself while in a healthy 
condition, produced several symptoms characteristic 
of intermittent fever. In accordance with his newly 
established principles of similarity, he termed china, 
which positively cures intermittent fever, a homoeo- 
pathic remedy for certain forms of intermittent fever, 
inasmuch as it produced on the healthy organism a 
similar disorder. Subsequent experiments record no 
reliable proving producing a true intermittent febrile 
attack. As the nature of intermittent fever was not 
known until 1884, the action of the remedy could 
not be explained. It was only demonstrated within 
the last few years that the blood of ague patients con- 
tained micrococci and also annular bodies, some mo- 
tionless, others provided with flagellae which are in 
constant motion, the body meanwhile assuming the 
most curious shapes, and finally returning to its 
original round form. The infection of the blood by 
these malarial agents is productive of intermittent 
fever. The injection of the smallest quantity of blood 
drawn from a subject suffering from ague, will pro- 
duce, as shown by experiment, an actual well-devel- 
oped form of the disease. The invasion of the sys- 



RELATION TO HOMOEOPATHY. 41 

tern by these specific bacilli occurs through the 
lungs, and may be very slow in nature. 

Even strong, healthy individuals, who are capable 
of great resistance to disease, may be infected in a 
chronic manner by living in a malarial region. 
These bacilli, when once introduced into the circula- 
tion, may, without producing any marked immediate 
action, accumulate in the spleen and remain quiescent 
for some time until finally, by some internal or ex- 
ternal cause, they are driven violently into the cir- 
culation. Recent clinical experiences show that in- 
dividuals who have had an attack of ague and have 
not completely recovered therefrom, may be suddenly 
seized with a paroxysm of intermittent fever after the 
administration of quinine for some other disease ; the 
specific intermittent action of the quinine, and its re- 
lation to the nervous system and these microscopic 
bearers of contagion caused the still latent bacilli to be 
forced into the circulation, the following reaction of the 
organism resulting in a typical paroxysm of fever. 
The nervous system, stimulated by the action of the 
quinine, drives the dormant bacilli into the circulation, 
and an attack of intermittent fever is the result. Many 
such experiences have been lately recorded. This in- 
disputably indicates that in intermittent fever there 
exists a causal relationship between the nervous 
system and the microbes producing the disease. 
Quinine is moreover curative because it destroys 
and makes impotent the bacilli causing the disease. 
Hahnemann, who resided a long time at Sieben- 



42 SCIENTIFIC MEDICINE IN ITS 

biirgen, as family physician to Baron v. Bruckentlial, 
may have, by inhaling the air of the Hungarian 
swamps, taken into his system a large number of 
these bacilli, which, collecting in the spleen, pro- 
duced but slight disturbances in one of his sturdy 
constitution, until he began his proving of cinchona, 
when the dormant micro-organisms of malaria, driven 
into the circulation, produced the symptoms of inter- 
mittent fever which he recorded. Although cin- 
chona and quinine are valuable specific homoeopathic 
remedies for innumerable diseases, they cannot be 
regarded wholly as such in intermittent fever. 

Phosphorus has a specific homoeopathic action in 
certain diseases of the bones. Kassovitz proved this 
conclusively from a histogenetic standpoint, in Zeit- 
schriftfitr Klinische Median, he showing that phos- 
phorus when introduced into the circulation of grow- 
ing animals in large doses, produced changes in the 
osseous structures (as demonstrated by the micro- 
scope) similar to those occurring in morbid pro- 
cesses which he cured by small doses of the same 
drug with the greatest success. 

Arsenic is a similarly homoeopathic specific remedy 
in cholera. Virchow says, in the 47th vol. of his 
Archives, that in arsenic poisoning there are severe 
pains in the abdomen, great thirst, constant diar- 
rhoea and vomiting, small, scarcely perceptible, 
pulse, very weak heart-sounds, cyanosis of the face 
and lips, with quick respiration, and, particularly in 
experiments, very cold skin, subsultus tendinum, 



RELATION TO HOMCEOPATHY. 43 

cramps in the calves of the legs ; so that all the 
symptoms of cholera are presented, and, moreover, 
microscopic and macroscopic investigations show the 
same pathological-anatomical-histological changes in 
the bowel as occur in cholera. " It requires," he con- 
tinues, " no further demonstration to show how sim- 
ilar are the changes occurring in arsenic poisoning 
and those presented by cholera." Arsenic, there- 
fore, produces in large doses not only the general 
functional symptoms of cholera, but also shows (in 
accordance with my postulated method of proving) 
those pathological -histological genetic changes in the 
diseased mucous membrane of the bowel, which, in 
small closes in an actual case of cholera, it is capable 
of curing. 

We will now consider what relation the action of 
Koch's remedy holds to this question, and, guided by. 
the expressions of Prof. Koch himself, seek to answer 
the same. 

Koch describes the discovery of the new remedy in 
the following manner : Inoculation with purely 
cultivated, living tubercle bacilli produces different 
symptoms in healthy guinea-pigs than in those al- 
ready infected by tuberculosis. In healthy guinea- 
pigs an ulcerating spot is formed in the skin which 
remains throughout the life of the animal. In guinea- 
pigs already infected by tuberculosis, the skin in a 
diameter of 0.05 surrounding the spot of inoculation 
becomes darkly discolored ; at the point of inocula- 
tion the skin becomes necrotic, leaving behind a 



44 SCIENTIFIC MEDICINE IN ITS 

superficial ulcer which heals permanently, without 
having infected the adjacent lymphatic glands. But 
the behavior of tubercle bacilli which are dead and 
which have been triturated and washed in water, is 
very different. Inoculation of healthy guinea-pigs 
with this fluid produces local suppuration, while 
tuberculous guinea-pigs are killed. If, however, the 
dose is so far diminished that the animal remains 
alive, there is developed a necrosis of the skin in the 
region of inoculation ; if, however, the fluid is still 
further diluted, marked improvement is noticed in 
the wound of inoculation ; it grows smaller and 
cicatrizes (which never occurs without such treat- 
ment), and the lymphatic glands which were pre- 
viously swollen diminish in size. The use of these 
dilutions of dead tubercle bacilli was accompanied, 
however, by these unfavorable circumstances, that 
the tubercle bacilli remained at the point of infection 
and were not absorbed, whereby they produced sup- 
puration. Koch, therefore, concluded that the cura- 
tive principle was a soluble substance, which was 
dissolved by the fluids of the body environing the 
tubercle bacilli and brought pretty rapidly into the 
general circulation, while the substratum causative of 
suppuration remained behind in the tubercle bacilli. 
Koch endeavored, therefore, to abstract the curative 
agent itself from the destroyed tubercle bacilli. Fi- 
nally he succeeded in obtaining a 40-50 per cent, 
glycerine solution of the substance from the tubercle 
bacilli, which he forthwith tested on men and 



RELATION TO HOMOEOPATHY. 45 

animals. Koch's remedy for tuberculosis is therefore 
a glycerine extract obtained from the pure culture of 
tubercle bacilli. This fluid, made turbid by sub- 
stances which are innocuous to the human organism, 
may be further purified by manipulation with alcohol, 
but this may be omitted because of the expense. 
Koch says at present only theories can be formed re- 
garding the composition of the effective agent. He 
considers it a derivative of albuminoid bodies, and 
places it in the grouj) of the so-called toXalbumens, 
remarking that the quantity of the active agent in 
the extract is very small — he considering it a frac- 
tional part of 1 per cent. Koch says : "If my sup- 
position is correct, we have to deal with a substance 
the action of which in tubercular diseased organisms 
far exceeds that of the most powerful medicinal agents 
known to us." 

The results of experiments on the healthy organ- 
ism and the curative process Koch describes as fol- 
lows : " The symptoms occurring in healthy man I 
have experienced myself; they are briefly as follows : 
Three or four hours after the injection drawing jmins 
in the limbs, lassitude, inclination to cough, oppression 
of breathing, these rapidly increasing in severity ; 
during the fifth hour a remarkably violent shaking 
chill occurred, lasting nearly one hour ; at the same 
time there was present nausea, vomiting, and rise of 
temperature to 3\).6°. After about twelve hours there 
was an amelioration of all these symptoms, the tem- 
perature sank, and on the following day reached 



46 SCIENTIFIC MEDICINE IN ITS 

normal ; heaviness in the limbs and lassitude con- 
tinued for several days. The manifestations, how- 
ever, are entirely different when the same quantity of 
the remedy is injected into a tuberculous subject. 
Then there occurs a violent general and also local re- 
action. To children we gave 0.001, and, if very 
weak, only 0.0005 ccm., and have thereby obtained 
a very strong but not alarming reaction. The general 
reaction consists in a febrile attack, generally begin- 
ning with rigor, the temperature rising above 39°, 
often to 40°, and even to 41° ; at the same time there 
is present pain in the limbs, irritation to cough, great 
lassitude, frequent nausea and vomiting." These 
symptoms are only general symptoms, for they occur 
in various forms of disease. In regard to the local 
changes Koch says : " The local reaction can be ob- 
served in such cases where the tubercular disease is 
visible, for instance lupous ulceration of the skin. 
Here are noticed changes which show the specific 
anti-tubercular action of the remedy in a most sur- 
prising manner. The lupous places begin to swell 
and redden, usually even before the onset of the 
chill. During the fever swelling and redness increase 
more and more, and may attain a high degree of in- 
tensity, so that the lupous tissue becomes brownish- 
red and necrotic. At more sharply defined foci of 
lupus the greatly swollen and brownish-red discol- 
ored spot was frequently surrounded by a whitish 
zone nearly a centimetre broad, and this again circum- 
scribed by a broad, intensely red margin. After sub- 



RELATION TO HOMOEOPATHY. 47 

sidence of the fever the swelling of the lupous places 
gradually decreases, and after two or three days may 
have entirely disappeared. The lupous centres are 
covered with crusts consisting of the exudated serum 
which has become dry by exposure to the air. After 
two or three weeks these crusts, which have become 
very thick, fall off and leave occasionally, even after 
but one injection, a smooth, red cicatrix. It is to be 
considered of especial importance that the changes 
just described are limited exclusively to those por- 
tions of the skin affected by lupus ; even the smallest 
and apparently most insignificant nodule hidden 
away in the cicatricial tissue is attacked by the pro- 
cess, and becomes visible in consequence of the swell- 
ing and change of color, while on the other hand the 
cicatricial tissue proper, in which all the lupous 
changes have occurred, remains intact. The obser- 
vation of a patient suffering from lupus, who is 
treated by this agent, is so instructive, and, at the 
same time, so convincing in regard to the specific 
nature of the remedy, that every one wishing to make 
use of it, should first begin his experiments, if at all 
possible, with the treatment of lupus. Reaction in 
the lungs cannot be observed, unless one considers 
increased cough and expectoration after the first in- 
jection in those suffering from lung affections as a 
local reaction. In such cases the general reaction 
predominates. At the same time, one must assume 
that here also the same changes occur, as are directly 
observed in lupus. The manifestations of reaction 



48 SCIENTIFIC MEDICINE IN ITS 

here described have occurred without exception in 
all experiments so far made after a dose of 0.01 ccm. 
if there was present any tubercular process whatever 
in the body." 

Lately, Prof. Koch described the specific action of 
his remedy upon tubercular tissues as follows : He 
establishes the fact that tubercle bacilli in their de- 
velopment in living tissue, as well as when cultured 
artificially, produce certain substances, which in va- 
rious ways act in a harmful manner upon the cells; 
among these substances there is one which destroys 
protoplasm, thereby causing cheesy degeneration ; 
in these cheesy masses the bacilli, deprived of those 
conditions necessary to their activity, no longer in- 
crease but die. In the small, gray, newly developed 
tubercular tissue, a large number of bacilli are found ; 
while, on the other hand, they are entirely absent in 
the large, whitish centres which have undergone all 
the changes of cheesy degeneration. The protoplasm 
destroying action of the substance is limited, for as 
soon as the degenerative changes have reached a cer- 
tain point, the tubercle bacilli decrease in number, 
and thus their production of this destroying substance 
becomes less or ceases. In this manner a certain 
degree of compensation is established, thus causing 
the extension of the bacilli centres to be so greatly 
limited. It follows, therefore, that if we artificially 
bring about a destruction of the cells environing such 
bacillus foci by introducing the destructive agent, the 
necrotic changes will be much more extended, and 



RELATION TO HOMOEOPATHY. 49 

the bacilli will also be destroyed, inasmuch as the 
conditions necessary to their life become unfavorable. 
Finally, the destroyed tissue will disintegrate, and 
becoming separated, will, under favorable circum- 
stances, be expelled, thus carrying along with it the 
enclosed bacilli. At all events the vital activity of 
the bacilli will be so disturbed, that they are much 
more apt to die than under ordinary circumstances. 
According to Koch, the curative action of the remedy 
seems to consist in the production of such changes. 
It contains a certain quantity of that substance spoken 
of, which causes a destruction of the cells. A rela- 
tively larger dose of this substance, given to a healthy 
subject, also causes an irritation of certain elementary 
tissues, thereby producing fever and the whole pe- 
culiar complex of symptoms, without causing any 
further harm. In a tuberculous subject, however, it 
requires a much smaller dose of the same substance 
to act upon certain diseased localities (where the 
tubercle bacilli vegetate in the tissues and impreg- 
nate their surroundings with their destructive pro- 
ducts), and cause a more or less extensive necrosis of 
the cells, and thereby indirectly a destruction of the 
bacilli. 

In view of this explanation I am enabled to make 
the positive assertion that I regard Koch's method 
an exact scientific confirmation in vindication of 
isopathy. The latter, as is well known, is a branch 
deviating from the more advanced Hahnemannian 
principles, and extends far beyond the limits of the 



50 SCIENTIFIC MEDICINE IN ITS 

law of similarity. Hahnemann's principle is Homio- 
Pathos (similar disease), that of isopathy is Iso- 
Pathos (same disease). Isopathy was founded upon 
a theory, which, at that time, found no scientific sup- 
port, namely, that contagious diseases contain in the 
medium of contagion self-curative substances. To 
this bold, unproven, and greatly ridiculed hypothesis 
a scientific aspect has been given by the sagacity 
of Koch's methods. Accordingly, Koch is to be 
regarded as the scientific founder of the isopathic 
doctrine, which (if we classify the various medical 
doctrines according to the guiding principle of their 
investigations) must be placed in the category of 
causal -specific medical therapeutics, and be known as 
iso- therapeutics. 

Jenner's method, that of vaccination, is at present 
only a prophylactic measure against smallpox. The 
future will tell whether or no this talented German 
investigator, in pursuing these newly opened paths, 
will not succeed in making it also a curative agent. 
Pasteur is accomplishing a similar object in another 
direction. 

The answer to your fifth question, "What changes 
in medical opinion generally is to be expected in 
consequence of Koch's discovery ?" is perfectly clear. 
Inasmuch as Koch's method is founded upon a new 
pathological fact, the bacillus doctrine, which, as a 
basis of pathology, demands an entirely new line of 
thought, it must, despite its partial resemblance to 
the fixed Hahnemannian experimental principles be 



RELATION TO HOMOEOPATHY. 51 

regarded as an entirely new method. To the view 
expressed by Prof. Koloman Mueller in one of his 
lectures, u that from it will emanate incalculable new 
patient studies and experiments, and that also in the 
treatment of other diseases, imitative efforts in the 
same direction will be made and finally bear good 
fruit," I add the hope that it will be fruitful of good 
to the whole medical world. 

Koch's method, as has been already stated, is rooted 
in homoeopathic soil ; his effort is essentially one in 
accordance with the Hahemannian principle, which 
seeks after causal-specific remedies ; there is, how- 
ever, only a resemblance between the two as Koch's 
method becomes more fully developed; it however 
discloses new and previously unknown views, and 
thus causes a most surprising advancement of medi- 
cal therapeutics ; for it is a fact, that medicine, which 
is in a constant state of development, has just as many 
roots, all of which collectively aid its advancement, 
as there are fields for biological study and methods 
of investigation. Above all, Koch's method will be 
of the greatest service in aiding to explain to medicine 
the important law of specifics. As regards the rest, 
it is highly probable that Koch's unexpected appear- 
ance will cause the specific-symptomatic, palliative 
treatment, so harmful in diseases of the lungs to tot- 
ter, and will give this method, at least in these forms 
of disease its death-blow ; if this is happily accom- 
plished, it will be a great blessing to suffering hu- 
manity, and a wonderful transformation of medical 



52 SCIENTIFIC MEDICINE IN ITS 

opinion will have to be recorded, for which we can 
alone be thankful to the suddenly introduced methods 
of Koch. It is to be hoped that enduring good will 
be derived therefrom. 

While speaking of symptomatic treatment, I must 
state that I personally, as a true follower of the 
Hahnemannian tendencies, practically, as well as 
theoretically, reject symptomatic remedies, both as 
regards the patient, as well as myself. It is my 
object to act upon the cause of disease by causal- 
specific remedies, and not simply cause an ameliora- 
tion of annoying symptoms arising therefrom. Cough 
and expectoration, therefore, do not become an object 
of treatment ; the same is true of elevation of tem- 
perature. For I regard the so-called symptom of 
disease a curative symptom in the majority* of inter- 
nal diseases. This harmonizes with the method of 
Koch. 

In saying this, I have unwittingly come upon the 
last question you ask, which is as follows : " What 
relation do your methods, especially in diseases of the 
lungs, hold to those of Koch ?" 

I have always made diseases of the lungs an espe- 
cial object of investigation, and have made many 
pathological-histological researches in this field of 
labor. Professor Arnold (from whom Koch declares 
he first derived the idea of coagulation-necrosis) says 
in his " Contributions to the Anatomy of Miliary 
Tuberculosis "( Virchow's Archives, vol. 88), "through 
the investigations of Virchow, Colbert and Bakody 



RELATION TO HOMOEOPATHY. 53 

we have learned the nature and development of mili- 
ary tubercle of the lungs, and through those of 
Deiehler, Rindfleisch and Bakody, that of the nodule 
affecting the adventitia of the bloodvessels." I be- 
lieve, therefore, that I have accomplished something 
useful by my histological-researches, and am there- 
fore justified in calling myself a specialist (in the 
restricted sense), and of speaking authoritatively on 
the subject, despite the fact that twenty-five years ago 
I opposed the hypothesis which could not at that 
time be proven, that there was present in the alveoli 
of the lungs a layer of epithelial cells, since then dis- 
covered by the advancement in knowledge of staining 
materials. 

Even as late as the 13th of November, 1890, Koch 
says in the Berlin Medical Weekly: "In what 
manner the curative process is accomplished cannot 
at present be definitely stated, as the necessary his- 
tological investigations have not been made." Less 
than three months thereafter, supported by Weigert, 
he attempted to give a histological explanation of his 
method, the substance of which any expert histologist 
might have guessed ; but still this explanation could 
not be called a very exact one. At all events the 
conclusion could be drawn therefrom, that his remedy 
does not destroy the bacilli directly, but does so only 
by its action upon the tubercular tissue impregnated 
by the remedy, and that it has no action whatever 
on cheesy degenerated masses. 

I will now endeavor to explain more closely the 



54 SCIENTIFIC MEDICINE IN ITS 

action of the remedy employed by me almost without 
exception in cases of chronic affections of the lungs. 
The remedy is phosphorus. The quantity of this 
agent in 10 grammes of the solution is exactly 
0.00001 gramme. The quantity of the active prin- 
ciple in this dose is about equal to that of Koch's 
remedy, the more so, as he latterly says that the 
quantity of the active principle present in the 
extract fluid is to be reckoned in all probability as 
only a fractional part of 1 per cent. According 
to the hypothesis which I have formed regarding 
the action of phosphorus, it aids as soon as it is 
taken up into the circulation the natural curative 
retrogressive, fatty changes occurring in those dis- 
eased foci which can be reached by the circulation ; 
these necrobiotic changes are followed partly here 
and there by cheesy degeneration or tyrosis proper, 
the latter forming a part of Weigert-Koch's coagula- 
tion-necrosis. The finely degenerated tissues, con- 
verted into molecular detritus and now rendered 
innocuous and capable of being absorbed, are carried 
by the lymphatic vessels of the lungs into the general 
circulation and burnt up, thereby generating a febrile 
temperature. As much of the remaining tissue as 
possible is removed by expectoration through the 
energy remaining intact in all the mechanical agents 
of the lungs. Even after the discovery of the tuber- 
cle bacilli, I have to alter nothing concerning this 
pharmaco-dynamic theory. 

I have frequently enough microscopically studied 



RELATION TO HOMOEOPATHY. 55 

the acute lobular infiltrations occurring after phos- 
phorus poisoning, and have watched the develop- 
ment of the numerous small insular foci of infil- 
tration, which are surrounded by a red zone, and 
have found, that in consequence of the necrobiotic 
disintegration, this red zone, which is due to capillary 
extravasation, and also the cell elements contained 
therein have succumbed partly to cheesy, partly to 
fatty degeneration. This action of phosphorus, which 
is so destructive to the anatomical structure of the 
lung tissue after a large dose, is the homoeopathic 
causal indication for its use in small doses. 

The above-mentioned cheesy masses, foci, no mat- 
ter whether they appear in the smallest bronchioles, 
or in these and in the air vesicles, of which there are 
about 1800 millions in the lungs, are, however, not 
composed throughout of a single variety of cell, and 
exhibit very different relations while passing through 
the degenerative changes, in accordance as the cells 
are of a higher or lower order. Thus, for instance, 
the white, as well as the sparingly occurring red 
blood corpuscles and also the extremely delicate non- 
nucleated epithelial cells of the alveoli (which can be 
demonstrated by the microscope by means of aniline* 
and to which is also due the discovery of the bacilli), 
all these undergo complete fatty metamorphosis ; the 
body of the so-called ciliated epithelial cell only 
partly succumbs to fatty degeneration, while the cilia, 
which constantly expel foreign mechanical matters 
from the bronchioles by their marvellous, untiring, 



56 SCIENTIFIC MEDICINE IN ITS 

whirling activity, undergo complete fatty metamor- 
phosis. All these cells easily and rapidly undergo 
fatty degeneration, so that in their removal they may 
be carried through the lymphatic vessels which have 
absorbed them without injuring their delicate walls. 
But an infinitely larger number of other cell forms 
are in themselves not capable of undergoing this 
pure and genuine fatty degeneration, but become the 
chief elements of those cheesy masses spoken of. To 
act upon these is the chief task of the therapeutist. 
For instance, many of the older giant cells undergo 
at first only partial fatty degeneration, which appears 
to be completed only then, when, as it appears from 
Professor Koch's recent explanation, the irritation 
formerly caused by the i)resence of the now dead 
bacillus ceases to act. By all this I only wished to 
indicate to you that the term coagulation-necrosis 
is not applicable to the whole mass of cells which are 
passing through the various forms of retrogressive 
metamorphosis. Such masses consist of cells, some 
of which have undergone fatty, others cheesy degen- 
eration, the latter being the coagulation-necrosis 
spoken of. We are, therefore, justified, after closer 
investigation of the histological details, in aiding, by 
means of medicine, the fatty changes commenced by 
nature, in order to accomplish the removal of the fat 
molecules. Phosphorus, as already stated, does this. 
The general vital energy of the functions of the lungs 
must, whenever necessary, be assisted by the use of 
arsenic, which greatly stimulates the activity of the 



RELATION TO HOMOEOPATHY. 57 

absorbing lymphatic vessels. The removal of those 
degenerated tissue elements, which are capable of 
being discharged by expectoration, is greatly aided 
by stimulation of the nerves of the delicate organic 
muscular apparatus of the bronchioles through the 
direct action of our causal specific remedies, and thus 
the automatic curative efforts of the organism are 
supported in every direction, 

The large number of cases of lung diseases treated 
at my clinics, offers favorable material for statistic 
conclusions. Moreover, the strict classification of 
cases obtained by the most exact methods of diagno- 
sis, place my statistic results beyond all doubt. I 
have always kept in view the more or less similar 
local pathological-anatomical basis of the various 
disorders, and especially the many pathological- 
anatomical complications and their various stages of 
development, and I may say, that the curative results 
obtained by me in diseases of the lungs are relatively 
good. 

Prof. Koch says : " In many cases I have received 
the distinct impression that the care given the patient 
was an important factor influencing the curative re- 
sults," and he gives preference to such institutions 
where careful observations and the necessary nursing 
of the patient can be readily carried out. 

That the curative results obtained by a similar 
method of treatment greatly varies in accordance 
with the circumstances surrounding the patients, is 
demonstrated by comparing the statistics of the old 
city hospital of St. Rochus with those of Bethesda, 



58 SCIENTIFIC MEDICJNE IN ITS 

where, six years ago, I was chief of the hospital, and 
where the patients were subjected to the same methods 
of treatment. Comparisons show the following death- 
rate : Acute and cheesy bronchiolitic disease, in 
Rochus, 0.26 ; in Bethesda* 0.41 ; acute cellular in- 
filtration of the lungs, in Rochus, 5.07 ; in Bethesda, 
5.73 ; chronic cheesy forms of infiltration, in Rochus, 
30.23 ; in Bethesda, 17.43 ; phthisis with cavities, in 
Rochus, 74.60 ; in Bethesda, 53.50 ; general tuber- 
culosis (other organs also affected) , in Rochus, 84.30; 
in Bethesda, 40.74. It may be seen from this how 
difficulty it is to properly judge the value of statistics 
and deduct correct conclusions therefrom. At that 
time I therefore wrote regarding these statistics, that 
the numeric method should not take into considera- 
tion solely the figures upon which it was based, but 
that if it is to become a potent factor of judgment, it 
should also endeavor to fix the value of the numbers 
given. 

Conscientious, scientific, reliable observations will 
give us more precise, and thus more sufficient mate- 
rial by which the value of Koch's remedy can be de- 
termined by statistic comparison. 

In conclusion I would like to add the following : 
After I had been appointed Professor of Homoeo- 
therapeutics, the following toast was proposed by a 
Polish physician at the general assembly of German 
homoeopaths, which met at Vienna in 1873. 

" Hungary is the wall and breastwork upon which 
Turkish desires of supremacy were shattered. For 
years it struggled against heathen barbarism * and 



RELATION TO HOMOEOPATHY. 59 

saved the German fields and provinces from destruc- 
tion. Hungary received in return the germs of sci- 
entific knowledge from Germany. By careful cul- 
ture and protection of the German seed we now see 
the doctrine of Hahnemann flourishing as a sturdy 
tree ! To Hungary was reserved, by the facultative 
culture of this doctrine, the honor of strictly defining 
its scientific value ; may this splendid fruit develop 
still more magnificently in German soil !" 

The hope of this inspired disciple of Hahnemann 
has been fulfilled ; for five years Prof Hugo Schulz, 
of the University of Griefswald, has adapted the 
Hahnemannian principles to cellular therapeutics, 
and has cultivated this branch in entire accordance 
with my views. I am well aware that Prof. Schulz's 
position in regard to this question is, in Germany, a 
very difficult one ; therefore, he hesitates as yet to 
pronounce the pass-word " Hahnemann," but as soon 
as he is enabled as a competent authority to overcome 
the obstacles which act as opposing factors to science 
proper, and when he will have pointed out the 
glaring difference existing between the lay practice 
of this method, which is so common in Germany, and 
a serious scientific cultivation of the Hahnemannian 
principles, then will he openly continue the labors of 
that man of whom all Germany will some day be 
proud. His first duty is, therefore, to boldly declare 
that an idea developed in a thinking brain can never 
be entirely lost, inasmuch as the germs of truth are 
hidden therein, and as every reformer is under the 
influence of the age in which he lives, the new 



60 SCIENTIFIC MEDICINE. 

thought, by the admixture of secondary matters, 
carries in itself errors due to the deficiencies of that 
age. On the other hand, it must also be acknowl- 
edged that the original fundamental principles of the 
method introduced by Hahnemann in 1795 were not 
ephemeral manifestations in the development of med- 
icine, but are still to this day progressive, reforming 
factors. 

The connecting links which will unite Germany 
to the doctrines of Hahnemann are now being forged 
at Greifswald, and no human hand will be able to 
destroy them. 

But that this is so, is alone due to the munificence 
of the Hungarian legislative bodies ; I would like to 
have this fact made known and acknowledged far 
and wide. In the course of time it will become con- 
stantly clearer that the fundamental principles of 
homceo-therapeutics which have been restored their 
proper rights in Hungary through facultative repre- 
sentation, have exerted a beneficial influence, inas- 
much as through my labors a stimulation, interna- 
tional in character, has been given, the influence of 
which will extend abroad and be felt for some time. 
I however look back upon my former activity with 
happy satisfaction, for I can say, with a good con- 
science, that I have honestly labored in contributing 
my share to that which may lead to a proper un- 
derstanding of this great question. 

Dixi et salvavi animan meam. 

Budapest, January 21, 1891. 

Prof. Dr. Theodor Bakody. 



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